Israel seizes control of historic Nabi Samuel mosque from Islamic waqf

Israel has issued an order to seize the tomb of the Prophet Samuel (Nabi Samuel), an important religious landmark in the occupied West Bank run by the Islamic Waqf, in a move that has been condemned as the latest example of “Judaisation” of Palestinian sites.  

On Tuesday, Israel’s civil administration, which carries out Israeli orders in the occupied West Bank, announced that it was expropriating 28 acres of land. 

That land includes the Palestinian towns of Beit Iksa and Nabi Samuel, covering the area where the historic Nabi Samuel mosque stands. 

The justification given by the civil administration, which is a subordinate to a unit in Israel’s defence ministry, was that the area was being seized “for the public benefit”. 

It said it would undertake a development project “to preserve the archaeological site of the Prophet Samuel’s tomb”. 

But Palestinian analysts have said that the move is yet another example of “Judaisation”, a term coined to describe Israeli authorities' use of archaeology and religion to target Palestinian land and identity. 

Prophet Samuel is a venerated figure in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. 

During the Byzantine period, Emperor Justinian ordered a church to be constructed on the spot where Samuel was believed to have been buried. 

The site was located on a hilltop 6km northwest of Jerusalem, 885 metres above sea level. 

The same site was also held in high regard by the Crusaders, who called it the “Mountain of Joy”, as it was the first point from which they saw Jerusalem. 

Muslim rulers thereafter built structures on the site to commemorate Samuel. 

The mosque that stands there today has features dating back to the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. It includes a shrine which Muslims believe contains Samuel’s tomb, making it a highly significant Islamic landmark. 

“All the lands in the area that were confiscated belong to the Alami family,” Khalil Toufakji, an expert on maps, borders, settlements and the city of Jerusalem, told Middle East Eye. 

“They are an Islamic waqf [religious endowment], a hereditary waqf of the Alami family.”

Since Israel seized and occupied the West Bank in 1967, it has made gradual changes to the Nabi Samuel area. 

That included building a synagogue in the underground chamber where Samuel’s tomb is believed to be, as well as restricting Palestinian access to parts of the site. 

Over time, Israeli authorities have reduced the size of Muslim prayer space, and the site's facilities have increasingly come under Israeli control.  

Toufakji noted that in 1995, the Nabi Samuel area was turned into a nature reserve by Israeli authorities, after which excavation work began. 

The latest move, he said, is “effectively an annexation”.

“This annexation process has begun,” he said. “The gradual annexation process, or the implementation of what the Israeli Knesset calls gradual annexation, through archaeological sites first, and then the establishment of infrastructure.”